Wall supported desk cover



Feb. 24, 1970 P..|. PRo'rzMANN ETAL 3,496,889

y WALL SUPPORTED DESK COVER FiledNov. 16. 1967 2 ASheelzs-Sheec 1 Faas. o .,BY

i MMM Feb. 24, 1970 P. J. Pofzmm mL' 3,496,889

WALL SUPPORTED 'DESK COVER Filed Nov.v 1s. 1967 E.l Sheets-Sheet 2 3,496,889 WALL SUPPORTED DESK COVER Peter I. Protzmann and Paul L. Veltkamp, Grand Rapids, Mich., assignors to Herman Miller, Inc., Zeeland, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed Nov. 16, 1967, Ser. No. 683,513 Int. Cl. A47b 97/00 U.S. Cl. S-152 15 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates to a desk cover preferably supported by a wall structure through a hinge which permits the cover to be rotated so that the cover structure is close to the wall with the top surface parallel to the wall, the rotation being accomplished in such a manner that the cover structure is positioned in front of the area including the hinge.

The hinge comprises a pair of end plates containing two mutually perpendicular cam grooves in which are positioned pins attached to the desk cover. The hinge end plates are positioned on either side of the cover structure and the inner portions of the end plates are adjacent the cover when the cover is perpendicular to the wall or parallel to the wall.

The hinges are attached to the supporting wall through clips which have angularly disposed flanges. Each clip has a hinge attaching ange containing screw engaging slots and is fastened to the hinge through screws, the heads of Iwhich are slotably retained by the screw engaging slots of the clip. A wall attaching ange on the clips has downA wardly facing hooks which engage slots in a vertical hanger member attached to a xed wall or part of a joint structure in a temporary wall system.

This invention relates to rotatable furniture members. In one of its aspects it relates to a supported desk cover comprising a top surface, a hinge portion attached to the top surface, means for attaching the hinge structure to a supporting wall, the hinge structure adapted to rotate the top surface from a first position perpendicular to the supporting wall to a second position parallel to the supporting wall such that the hinge structure is covered in either position and the top surface is close to the wall in either position, and means are provided to bias the top surface in the rst position and in the second position.

In another of its aspects, the invention relates to a wall supported desk cover as has been hereinbefore described wherein the rotatable top surface is attached to the wall through at least two clips, the clips being attached to the hinge structure, the clips having a wall attaching flange and a hinge attaching ange, the hinge attaching flange having at least one screw hanger slot and the wall attaching flange having at least two downwardly extending hooks for engaging slots in a supporting wall.

In co-pending Ser. No. 623,878, led Mar. 17, 1967, now Patent No. 3,430,997, there is disclosed and claimed a relocatable wall structure in which a plurality of vertically disposed wall panels are rigidly connected through a joint structure. The joint structure contains a pair of vertically disposed, partially concealed hanger members containing vertically aligned hanger slots for supporting wall accessories. The clips have downwardly facing hooks which engage the hanger slots and have upwardly facing grooves on the clips which engage abutting screw members of the accessory units.

The above described wall system can be used for partitioning oflices and the like. It is desirable in some cases to attach desk units to walls. Covers can be placed over yUnited States Patent C) m 3,496,889 Patented Feb. 24, 1970 the desks. The covers, however, must be easily removable and replaceable to provide easy access to the desk top.

When a simple hinge is employed for the cover, the cover supporting structure and the hinge will be visible to the eye when the cover is rotated so that it is against the wall. Otherwise the bottom portion of the cover will contact the wall during the upward rotation. It is desirable to have a rotatable desk top wherein a support means and a rotating means are not visible when the cover is in either position.

If the cover is rotatable so that the free end swings upwardly toward the wall, the free end of the cover must be hooked at the top or spring biased in the upper position in order to maintain the desk in that position. In this latter instance, the biasing means must be such as to be inoperative when the cover overlies the desk.

We have now discovered a desk cover and hinge combination in which the prior art problems are avoided by the use of a toggle spring and a pair of pivotal pins on each side of the cover, which pins slide in a L-shaped cam track.

By various aspects of this invention one or more of the following, or other, objects can be obtained.

It is an object of this invention to provide a cantilevered desk cover for a wall supported desk which cover is rotatable with respect to the wall.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a hinge for a wall supported desk cover wherein the hinge is not visible regardless of whether the cover is on or away from the desk.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a cantilevered wall supported desk cover wherein the free end of the cover is rotatable upwardly toward the wall and means are provided to bias the cover in the upward position when it is in that position, and to bias the cover in a cantilevered down position when the desk is in the cantilevered down position.

It is still a further object of this invention to provide a wall supported desk cover wherein the cover is rigidly attached to the wall and yet is easily attachable and removable from the wall.

Other aspects, objects, and the several advantages of this invention are apparent to one skilled in the art from a study of this disclosure, the drawings, and the appended claims.

According to the invention, there is provided a supported cantilevered planar member which is rotatable about a supporting hinge. The planar member is attached through a hinge structure to a supporting wall. The hinge structure is adapted to rotate the planar member from a first position perpendicular to the supporting wall to a second position parallel to the supporting wall. The hinge further is so constructed as to maintain the planar member close to the wall in the down or up position. The hinge is attached to the planar member so that the planar member is positioned in front of the hinge whether in the down position or inthe up position.

Means are further provided to bias the planar member in a position perpendicular to the wall and/or in a position parallel to the wall.

The hinge structure comprises a pair of side plates positioned on either side of the planar member and contains, preferably, a L-shaped cam groove, one portion of which is parallel to the supporting wall and another portion of which is perpendicular to the supporting wall. Pins attached to either side of the planar member slide in the cam track.

The hinge is attached to the wall through a pair of clips having a hinge engaging flange and a wall engaging flange. The hinge engaging flange preferably has screw engaging 3 slots and is attached to the hinge structure through screw members which are slidable in the slots.

The `wall attaching flange is angularly disposed relative to the hinge attaching flange and Icontains a plurality of downwardly directed hooks to engage slots in hanger members attached to a fixed or temporary wall.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a temporary wall structure supporting a desk and cover and illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the structure shown in FIG. l taken along lines II-II of FIG. l;

FIG. 3 is a perspective View of the clip employed in attaching the desk cover to the wall; and

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the structure shown in FIG. 2 with the end plate removed showing the position of the cover when in the up position.

FIG. 5 is a view like FIG. 3 illustrating the operation of the hinge wherein the position of the various parts when the cover is in vertical position is illustrated by phantom lines.

Referring noW to the drawings; there is shown a plurality of vertically disposed wall panels 2 connected by joint structures generally designated as 4. These wall structures can be of the type disclosed and claimed in said co-pending Ser. No. 623,878, filed Mar. 17, 1967, which application is incorporated herein by reference. The joints 4 of the wall structure Support a desk top 5 and bracket 7. A desk cover 6 is cantilevered perpendicular to the wall in the position shown in FIG. 1. The desk cover has a pair of pins 8 and 9 attached in each side thereof along a line which is substantially perpendicular to the line of the top surface of the cover 6. The pins are positioned in grooves 12 and 14 of hinge plate 10 and are slidable therein. Bearings 11 are provided on pins 8 and 9 between the sides of the desk 6 and the hinge plate 10.

The hinge plates are connected through a stretcher flange 16 which is attached to the hinge plate through screws 18.

The cover structure is attached t0 the supporting wall through hanger clips 26 which have a hinge attaching ange 30 and a wall attaching ange 28.

The hinge attaching flange 30 has an open ended upwardly directed slot 32 and a key hole Slot 34 for engaging pins which are threadably attached to hinge end plate 10. The pins or screw members 20 have a head which is retained by the hinge engaging flange 30 and the shafts of the pins or screw members 20 are slidable within the slots 32 and 34. Thus, the desk cover can be readily attached and removed from the supporting Wall simply by sliding the pins 20 in and out of the slots 32 and 34.

The wall engaging flange 28 is angularly disposed at an acute angle to the hinge engaging fiange 30. Downwardly extending hooks 36 on the end of flange 28 engage slots 24 and hanger 22 which are attached to the Wall members 2.

It is to be understood that the hanger member 22 is merely illustrative of the kind of hanger support members which can be employed with the desk cover. Other types of supporting members such as those disclosed and claimed in co-pending Ser. No. 737,522 filed June 17, 1968, entitled Structural Support System can be employed.

As can be seen in FIG. 2, the pins 8 and 9 support the desk cover on the hinge end plates 10 which in turn are supported by the wall through clips 26.

A spring 38, attached on one end to end plate 10 through screw member 42 and at the other end to the side of the cover 6 through screw member 40, biases the cover in the down position. The toggle spring will also maintain the cover in the vertical position as seen in FIG. 5. The desk cover has generally been described with reference to one side of the cover and the accompanying hinge structure. However, it is to be understood that the other side of the cover contains a similar hinge structure 4 which would be the mirror image of the above described structure.

The invention has been described with reference to a hinge structure employing pins 8 and 9 attached to the side of the cover and a cam groove 12 and 14 in hinge plate 10. However it is Within the scope of the invention to provide the pins 8 and 9 in a fixed relationship to hinge plate 10 and to provide grooves 12 and 14 in the side of cover 6. In this latter instance, groove 12 would be positioned parallel to the top surface of the cover, extending out from pin 8.

Whereas the invention has been specifically described with reference to a desk cover, it is to be understood that other planar surfaces can be employed in the invention. For example, a desk top itself or a shelf unit could lbe employed within the broader scope of the invention.

The movement of the cover can be seen in FIG. 5. As the cover begins to swing upwardly, pin I8 begins to move downwardly in vertical slot 14. In order to maintain constant distance between pin 9 and 8, pin 9 begins to move laterally in slot 12. During the movement of the cover upwardly, the top back edge of the cover will remain in close proximity to the wall due to the fact that pin 8 remains within slot 14. The movement of the cover must be made against the tension in spring 38. During the movement of the pins 8 and 9, the hinge mechanism is substantially concealed by the edges of the desk top. When the desk top reaches the top position pin 9 will reach the outer end of slot 12 and pin y8 will reach the lower end of slot 14. Near this point, spring 38 will begin to pull the cover so that the pins reach this end position. When the cover is in the up position, it will be supported by pins 8 and 9. This dual support system in combination with toggle spring 38 produces a stable system of support and an effective hinge. In this up position, the sides of the cover completely overlie the hinge due to the fact that the cover sidewalls are as deep as the width and height of the hinge plate 10. The inner top portion of the cover 6 is positioned as close to the Wall when the cover is parallel to the wall as the back edge of the cover 6 when the cover 6 is perpendicular to the wall by placing pin 8 anequal distance from the top surface and back edge of the coy'er.

Whereas the invention has been specifically described with reference to a wall supported desk cover, it is within the scope of the invention to use the cover for a free standing desk unit. In this embodiment, the cover would be attached to the top of the desk at the back portion thereof instead of being attached to the wall. Alternately, the desk can have a pair of upstanding support members extending up from the back thereof and the cover can be attached to the upstanding support members in the same fashion as it is attached to the wall.

Other variations and modifications are possible within the scope of the foregoing disclosure and the drawings without departing from the spirit of the invention.

We claim:

1. A wall supported furniture construction comprising a planar member, a hinge structure attached to said planar member, means for attaching said hinge structure to a supporting wall, said. hinge structure supporting said planar member and having means to permit rotation of said planar member from a first position perpendicular to said supporting wall to a second position parallel to said supporting wall so that said planar member in said second position is substantially as close to the wall as the supported end of said planar member when in said first position; said rotation permitting means including cam track means and pin members through which said planar member is supported; said planar member having sides extending downwardly adjacent said side plates to overlie said side plates, thereby concealing the innermost sides of said side plates in all positions of said planar member; and means to bias said planar member in said first position and said second position.

2. A wall supported furniture construction according to claim 1 wherein Said hinge structure comprises a pair of side plates positioned on either side of said planar member, said cam track means including a rst groove in each plate parallel to said supporting wall and a second groove perpendicular to said supporting wall, said first and second grooves facing inwardly towards said planar member.

3. A wall supported furniture construction according to claim 2 wherein said planar member has a pair of pins attached thereto and extending outwardly from each side thereof, and each pin is positioned within one of said first and second grooves of said plates.

4. A wall supported furniture construction according to claim 3 wherein said biasing means comprises a toggle spring attached at one end to said hinge structure and at the other end to said planar member such that when said planar member is perpendicular to said wall said spring biases said planar member downwardly and when said planar member is rotated parallel to said wall, said spring biases said planar member toward said wall,

5. A wall supported furniture construction according to claim 1 wherein said biasing means comprises a toggle spring attached at one end to said hinge structure and at the other end to said planar member such that when said planar member is perpendicular to said wall said spring biases said planar member in said position perpendicular to said wall, and when said planar member is rotated parallel to said wall, said spring biases said planar member toward said wall.

6. A wall supported furniture construction according to claim 1 wherein said cam track means has a vertical leg adjacent said wall and a horizontal leg extending outwardly from a bottom portion of said vertical leg to permit the free end of said planar member to rotate upwardly towards said wall.

7. A wall supported furniture construction according to claim 1 wherein said attaching means comprises at least two clips attached to said hinge structures, said clips having a wall attaching flange and a hinge attaching flange; said hinge attaching flange having at least one screw hanger slot; said wall attaching flange forming an acute angle with said hinge attaching flange; said wall attaching flange having at least two downwardly extending hooks for engaging slots in said supporting wall, and said hinge having abutting screw members for engaging said screw hanger slots of said clips.

8. A wall supported furniture construction according to claim 7 wherein said supporting wall comprises a plurality of wall panels locked together at the joints, said joint member contains a hanger member having a plurality of vertically aligned hanger slots and said downwardly extending hooks of said clips engage said hanger member slots.

9. A wall supported furniture construction according to claim 7 wherein said hanger attaching ange of said clips contain an upwardly facing open-ended slot at the top portion thereof and a key hole slot positioned below said open-ended slot, and each of said hinges contain two screw members adapted to slidably engage said openended and said key hole slots.

10. A wall supported furniture construction according to claim 4 wherein said second groove is positioned at the bottom of said rst groove, when said planar member is perpendicular to said supporting wall one of said pins is positioned in the top of said rst groove, and the other of said pins is positioned in the innermost portion of said second groove and said other end of said toggle spring is positioned outwardly of said one end; as said planar member is rotated such that its free end moves upwardly, said other pin in said irst groove begins to move along said second groove while said one pin begins to move downwardly within said first groove and said spring begins to stretch; when said planar member has been rotated upwardly so that the said planar member is substantially parallel to said wall, said other pin reaches the outer end of said second groove and said one pin reaches the bottom end of said lirst groove, and said other end of said toggle spring is positioned inwardly of said one end.

11. A wall supported furniture construction according to claim 10 wherein said rst and second grooves are inter-connected.

12. A hinge construction comprising a pair of hinge plates, in spaced parallel relationship a member rotatable between said hinge plates from a first position to a second position, each of said hinge plates and said rotatable member being interconnected through a pair of pins which slide in mutually perpendicular grooves such that when said rotatable member is in said first position, said pins are positioned in one end of each of the grooves; and when said rotatable member is in said second position, said pins are positioned in opposite ends of said grooves.

13. A hinge construction according to claim 12 wherein spring biasing means are provided between at least one of said hinge plates and said rotatable member between the confines of said hinge plates said spring biasing means is so positioned as to bias said rotatable member in said rst position, when said rotatable member is in said first position, and to bias said rotatable member in said second position when said rotatable member is in said second position.

14. A hinge construction according to claim 13 further comprising a wall supported desk having a cover overlying the top surface of said desk, said cover being supported by a hinge construction, wherein said cover is said rotatable member and said hinge plates are attached to a wall above said desk, said grooves and said pins being so positioned such that the top of said cover is substantially as close to said wall when said cover is parallel to said wall as the back edge of said cover, said cover overlies said desk top surface, and the back edge of said cover is substantially as close to said desk top surface when said cover is parallel to said wall as the bottom portion of said cover when said cover overlies said desk top surface; and said cover is so shaped that the side edges thereof overlie the inner surfaces of said hinge plate when said cover is parallel to said wall and when said cover overlies said desk top surface.

15. A hinge construction according to claim 13 further comprising a desk having a cover overlying the top surface of said desk, said cover being attached to a back end of said desk through said hinge construction.

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